Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow has reportedly been hired by Lucasfilm to direct the final instalment in the upcoming Star Wars sequel trilogy. According to Umberto Gonzales of filmsite Heroic Hollywood, Trevorrow will appear at today’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel at Comic Con in San Diego.

Already confirmed for the panel are The Force Awakens director, JJ Abrams, Lucasfilm president and the sequel trilogy producer Kathleen Kennedy, and writer Lawrence Kasdan. The report states that Trevorrow will also be brought to the stage, and confirmed as episode IX director.

With no new footage from The Force Awakens expected to be shown at the Comic Con panel, it makes sense that Lucasfilm would cast fans' attention to the two further films scheduled for the sequel trilogy.

In November 2012, rumours spread that Trevorrow was one of the candidates to direct The Force Awakens, which comes out this December. Although this was untrue, Kennedy’s husband, Frank Marshall did then hire Trevorrow to direct Jurassic World, which has scooped $1.4 billion in box office revenue, proving (in the solid, economic kind of terms that Disney are receptive to) that the director can successfully handle a well-loved franchise.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Joss Whedon, the writer and director of The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, was a likely candidate to direct Episode IX, although no new information has emerged recently on that front.

Looper and Breaking Bad director Rian Johnson will direct Episode VIII, which is due for release in 2017. Johnson is also part of the writing team for Episodes VIII and IX.

It's thought that Lucasfilm will also announce a new director for the second Star Wars standalone film, after Josh Trank abruptly quit the project in May. The as yet untitled film will follow Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, set for release in late 2016.

Episode IX is set for release in 2019. The Star Wars Comic Con panel takes place on Friday at 5.30pm local time (1.30am Saturday UK time).